Lone Residents of Little Bay Islands Share Tips for Living in Times of Isolation – VOCM

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(Photo courtesy Kintsugi via Facebook.)

As many Canadians are learning to deal with a prolonged period of isolation, its something the only two people on Little Bay Islands opted for when they decided to remain in the small, island town.

Mike Parsons and his wife, Georgina Parsons, made the decision to be the only full-time inhabitants on Little Bay Island last year.

Now theyre some of the most isolated people in the province.

Mike Parsons says it has been surreal sitting on the outside, looking in from their own little bubble.

As someone who not only lives a life of isolation but who thoroughly enjoys it, Parsons offered some helpful advice for those not used to being alone.

He says coming up with a routine and trying to stick to it every day helps pass the time and provides a sense of purpose.

They post updates on their blog Kintsugi Little Bay Islands on Facebook.

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Lone Residents of Little Bay Islands Share Tips for Living in Times of Isolation - VOCM

On Fishers Island, protocols in place to limit spread of virus – Suffolk Times

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As the coronavirus spread rapidly through the rest of Southold Town, Fishers Island residents have banded together to avoid potential catastrophe on their remote, four-square-mile island.

Just two cases of COVID-19 have been documented among islanders, according to officials at the Island Health Project, a nonprofit formed to raise funds for Dr. Chris Ingram, the small communitys only physician.

The first patient was evacuated March 27 via marine Sea Stretcher to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn., and discharged April 1. That patient and a family member who also tested positive are now both recovering at their primary residence off-island, officials said.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said Monday that the town is looking into how numbers are reported for Fishers Island.

Residents usually seek medical treatment at health care facilities in Connecticut, Mr. Russell said. I do not know if there is reporting to the New York State Department of Health of any positive cases.

Four people listed as persons of interest have completed isolation periods and Dr. Ingrams latest update on Friday noted that there are no new cases of COVID-19 to report.

The Island Health Project and Island Community Board have teamed up to urge homeowners coming to the island to abide by a strict set of protocols to limit potential spread of the virus and because limited resources are available locally.

Any residents arriving on Fishers Island are asked to self-quarantine and practice social distancing measures even if they are returning from a quick trip off-island to run errands.

Think carefully before coming, or leaving and returning, Dr. Ingram wrote in an April 10 letter.

The ferry, which is running on a reduced schedule of three round-trips per day, also has precautions in place to limit exposure, now prohibiting riders from exiting their vehicles while in line for or on board the ferry.

The Village Market, the islands sole grocery store, remains closed but is accepting orders via call or text, and the post office has restrictions in place to limit the number of people inside at any given time.

Before Gov. Andrew Cuomos mandate that New Yorkers wear masks in public spaces, Fishers Island residents were already being urged to take the precaution.

Dr. Ingram developed an unofficial health census to track COVID-19 to prepare for community needs as well as track how many part-time residents have flocked to the haven, which has approximately 250 year-round residents.

The head count currently stands at about 500 people, but he said he believes hes missed many households.

The population grew very quickly as seasonal residents moved back to their homes there to shelter from the virus, Mr. Russell said. Still, he said, the remote nature of Fishers Island and population numbers, which increase seasonally to approximately 2,000, are not ideal conditions for the virus to spread. Being on an island, theyre much less likely to frequent more densely populated areas where infection is more likely, the supervisor said.

Last week, Dr. Ingram said island organizations are working to get a supply of virus and antibody tests to Fishers Island.

A group of volunteers is helping to explore solutions for supply and funding, he wrote April 17. Testing at this point is imperfect, so its not 100% clear how testing results could be applied to our situation. Nevertheless, we believe testing protocols will be critical to maintaining safety and order on the island as the summer season approaches.

In his latest update April 24, Dr. Ingram protocols for the summer must be developed in line with state policies. This summer will be very different from normal, the physician warned residents, adding that childrens programs and institutions will likely remain closed and big parties are definitely discouraged.

Please begin envisioning your summer to be simpler and more family oriented, less social, more self-sufficient and less reliant on services of various kinds, Dr. Ingram told residents.

He said even a modest increase in population will increase the risk for an outbreak on Fishers Island. With that in mind, Dr. Ingram said they are trying to bring additional medical staff to the island but residents shouldnt take that as false hope that theyre protected.

In the meantime, all residents of Fishers Island are being urged to continue social distancing to stop the spread of the virus.

Fishers Island Justice Louisa Evans, a member of the Southold Town Board and island resident, said its heartening to see how the organizations are working to keep residents safe, even without the presence of a local governing body.

It seems like people are taking the correct precautions and following guidelines. In a small community like ours, it is important that people willingly come together to establish expectations and help and look out for each other, she said.

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On Fishers Island, protocols in place to limit spread of virus - Suffolk Times

Running for her hometown; Alex Graham completes marathon on the Island – Shelter Island – Shelter Island Reporter

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It didnt get really bad until around mile 20 when herlegs began to bother her. And then the skies opened and she was running throughhard rain and wind.

There was an upside, however. The downpour took my mindoff the pain, year-round Islander Alex Graham said.

Ms. Graham ran her first marathon on Sunday, completing a 26.2 mile course that took her from Wades Beach all the way out to Ram Island, to Silver Beach, and back through the Center and finishing at her starting point.

A few friends and family ran with her for shorter distances throughout the day, including her friend James Marshall. But I was never really alone, she said, noting that people along the way were on the sides of the roads to cheer her on. Some people had signs and cars would honk and people would yell out their windows, she said.

Last week the Reporter noted several spots along the route she would pass so people could gather to cheer and encourage her, but some took it upon themselves to cheer at other locations.

The marketing professional was supposed to run the prestigious Big Sur Marathon in California this past weekend, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the marathon and her California trip were cancelled. She had trained for over a year for her first-ever marathon.

Her race Sunday was to test herself finishing in thevery respectable time of 4 hours and 37 minutes but also for her community,she said, promoting the recently formed Shelter Island Alliance.

She and Brett Surerus created the nonprofit Alliance tohelp Island restaurants weather the economic storm brought on by the pandemic,as well as helping feed healthcare employees working long hours without breaks.The idea is to keep the restaurants functioning and also pay them to help feedthe staffs at Eastern Long Island and Stony Brook Southampton hospitals throughdonations.

The Alliance has also expanded its scope to help peoplein need on the Island.

Donors choose the restaurant they would like to supportand the amount they want to donate and then go to Venmo Shelter Island ActionAlliance (@shelterisland-actionalliance). Or checks can be made out to ShelterIsland Action Alliance and sent to P.O. Box 452, Shelter Island, NY 11964.

Donations go directly to the restaurant of choice, whichwill determine the best way to optimize the money to feed the most people.

Ms. Grahams solo race gave the Alliance a boost, she said. Many people have contacted us, she added.

So far, the nonprofit has delivered and scheduled morethan 3,000 meals.

Her start Sunday morning at Wades Beach was quiet, with afew friends, including Adam Bundy who played a recording of the National Anthemfrom his car. The weather was perfect for a long distance run, she said, cooland overcast. But that changed with the downpour when she got to the SilverBeach-stretch of her marathon.

She as asked if she ever hit the wall that distancerunners speak of, the time when energy is drained and one foot in front ofanother can be an ordeal. If there was a wall, she ran through it, she said.But she did suddenly understand the runners wisdom that a marathon doesntreally start until mile 20.

Ms. Graham credits Mr. Marshall and Mr. Bundy as her unofficial trainers, who especially helped with ideas on nutrition for the endurance sport.

Back where she started at Wades Beachfour-and-a-half-hours before, Ms. Graham was exhausted but proud of achieving along-sought goal, and doing somethingmeaningful for her home town.

She also wanted everyone to know: I finished first.

For more information on the Shelter Island Alliance, email [emailprotected] or phone 631-806-5458 (Brett Surerus) or 646-415-2792 (Alex Graham).

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Running for her hometown; Alex Graham completes marathon on the Island - Shelter Island - Shelter Island Reporter

How Staten Island nursing homes stepped up to face hospital coronavirus overflow – SILive.com

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc on nursing homes and adult care facilities throughout New York, with more than 3,500 deaths within the state as of Tuesday 125 of which were on Staten Island.

The stress of housing the boroughs most vulnerable population and the overflow of a strained health care system has caused concerns in multiple nursing homes across the Island, according to interviews with approximately a dozen health care workers and family members of residents.

In March, Dr. Ginny Mantello, the boroughs director of health and wellness, told the Advance/SILive.com that nursing homes were a critical piece in the puzzle to lessen the burden on hospital systems.

The least we can do is say the ones that are not critically ill and not in an ICU setting and not on a ventilator should be sent to the next step down level, Mantello said, which is not a triage tent, its not a building we stood up to take patients, its not a dormitory or a hotel its a nursing home."

That approach, according to Mantello, was executed and allowed hospitals to care for the most severe coronavirus patients throughout the height of the outbreak in the borough.

After weeks of extremely limited testing, Staten Islands 10 skilled nursing facilities, the Advance/SILive.com exclusively reported, will have all of its staff and residents tested in conjunction with a borough-wide partnership.

Mantello credits nursing home facilities across the Island for recognizing that keeping the coronavirus out of individual homes was an impossibility, and taking the the approach that it was the homes moral duty ... their obligation to the community, to the hospitals, to everybody, to be able to help decant these patients out of the hospitals in an effort to reduce hospital overload.

The extent of the role nursing homes played in reducing hospital capacity is becoming increasingly clear, with dozens of senior residents being discharged from hospitals to the care of the nursing home facilities in the borough.

Since the onset of the virus, Staten Island University Hospitals two campuses have discharged 105 COVID-19 positive patients to skilled nursing facilities across the Island. This total includes patients who were initially at the nursing homes.

The total number of coronavirus patients discharged from Richmond University Medical Center to nursing homes was not available.

37

Life on lockdown: Coronavirus in NYC

STATE MANDATES

On March 25, the New York State Department of Health issued a directive that No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH (nursing home) solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.

During this global health emergency, all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs, said the directive.

The state Health Department did not provide the number of patients who were discharged from hospitals into nursing homes throughout New York by the time of publication.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo firmly referenced the states directive and said nursing homes are required to have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff, isolate coronavirus positive residents, only re-admit positive coronavirus residents who can be cared for properly, and notify all residents and their family members if any resident tests positive or dies as a result of the virus.

Cuomo also announced that the states Health Department will be partnering with Attorney General Letitia James to investigate violations of the mandates, saying that facilities could be fined $10,000 per violation or even lose their operating licenses.

Beginning Thursday, nursing homes must immediately report all actions they have taken to comply with state Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. The New York State Department of Health will investigate those who have not complied with those guidelines.

Photo shows the entrance to the Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Dongan Hills on Friday, April 17, 2020. (Staten Island Advance/ Paul Liotta)

NURSING HOMES PERFORMED VALIANT EFFORT

In addition to re-admitted patients deemed stable by hospitals, some of the boroughs largest nursing homes, including Carmel Richmond Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, in Dongan Hills, and Eger Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, in Egbertville, have taken coronavirus patients who were not previously residents.

Carmel Richmond has admitted a total of 19 COVID-19-positive patients from the hospital as of April 22, as required by the state, according to Jon Goldberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese, which runs the facility. As of last Friday, Eger Health Care and Rehabilitation Center had admitted the same amount, with more expected.

As ArchCare noted in its statement last Friday, the number of deaths by facility released by the state on Friday dont distinguish between infections that may have originated in a particular nursing home and those that were introduced to the nursing home by already-infected patients coming from the hospital, Goldberg said.

The statement came after a New York state survey determined at least 44 people died as a result of the coronavirus at the Dongan Hills nursing home. It was the only Staten Island nursing home on the list, which included any nursing home with more than five reported deaths.

However, Borough President James Oddo, who has called for more action to protect nursing homes, said in an interview with the Advance that hes worried that the list could paint an inaccurate portrait of how the virus is affecting the states most vulnerable.

I dont think that number, in a vacuum, and having Carmel Richmond alone on that list, is fair to those heroes that work in that facility and run that facility and are doing their very best under circumstances that they did not create, said Oddo, who added that he had only positive experiences when his loved ones were in that nursing home.

That sentiment is furthered, as some nursing homes including New Broadview Manor in South Beach have received no patients from hospitals during the pandemic, the facility said.

Without additional context, the number of Covid-related deaths in a given nursing home is a misleading statistic,'' the ArchCare statement said last week. "On their own, these figures do not accurately reflect the overall quality of care a facility provides or its diligence in trying to control the infection.

New York City announced on Thursday that it would surge supplies and staff to nursing homes across the city, including multiple borough homes.

Mantello, despite the lack of testing and PPE available, said the efforts performed by nursing homes throughout Staten Island was very valiant, to say the least."

Our nursing home partners stepping up was very brave on their part, she said, adding that the facilities were forced to stretch themselves to the limit in order to help overall hospital capacity in light of earlier projections, which forecasted long-term overflow at hospitals across the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered supplies to Richmond University Medical Center today along side him were Borough President James Oddo, Councilwoman Debi Rose and Assemblymember Charles Fall. April 20,2020. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

OUR RESPONSIBILITY

Regardless of the new patients admitted into nursing home facilities from hospitals, borough senior living centers reported positive coronavirus cases even before the state mandate as a variety of factors, including staff with limited PPE, could cause the virus to transmit easily.

It doesnt matter if a nursing home has 20 patients or 30 from a hospital that are COVID positive -- remember, they have staff going in and out daily, said Mantello.

(COVID-19) is in every nursing home, an ArchCare spokesman said previously. Theres absolutely no way to contain it, no matter how hard they try."

Concerns about the availability of testing within nursing homes and adequate PPE have been strongly aired by facilities, officials and health care workers alike.

In an interview with the New York Times, Scott LaRue, the president of ArchCare, said: I cant test, I dont have PPE .. What am I supposed to do?

Testing for the coronavirus at individual nursing homes has been an impossibility so far, effectively handcuffing the facilities, and with larger hospital systems such as Northwell Health fighting for PPE, smaller institutions like skilled nursing facilities were left in a somewhat untenable position, Oddo said.

In the face of criticism against nursing homes and how individual facilities handled the outbreak, Oddo said: If youre going to be angry at someone, be angry at us. Be angry at us in government.

In a crisis to this degree, individual hospitals, individual hospital systems, individual skilled nursing facilities they have a responsibility, but ultimately the only entity out there that could provide the answer to the problem was government, and we didnt, because there are nurses and aides walking through skilled nursing facilities without the proper PPE, Oddo said.

A sign on Manor Road gives strength to Staten Islanders. Wednesday, April 8, 2020. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel)

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE FRONT LINE

A nurse in a Staten Island nursing home, who answered emailed questions from the Advance/SILive.com from her hospital bed in Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze, said the coronavirus continues to take a heavy toll on the health care workers in the boroughs senior facilities.

After attending to 47 patients during a single shift on April 2, the woman said she began to feel body aches, chills and headaches. The next day, the woman said she called her sister-in-law to take her 10-month-old baby in fear she could infect her child.

After heading to a City MD, a chest X-ray confirmed pneumonia, though the facility did not have enough capacity to test for the coronavirus at the time. After receiving antibiotics, her chest pain progressed and her fever rose before she was taken to RUMC.

Within days, she returned home, but ended up calling the state Health Department to have a coronavirus test conducted and was swabbed the next day at 11 a.m.

Her condition continued to stagger, with her oxygen dropping to dangerous levels. Family and friends were checking on me, urging me to go back to the hospital, she said.

After days of pain and struggling to breathe, I rushed to SIUH ER Friday April 10 around 4:30 a.m. and was admitted for hypoxia -- low oxygen, the woman said.

Days later, the woman was discharged; however, she said she felt a lack of proper PPE contributed to my illness.

We were being told to use one surgical mask during our shift,'' she said. "I was one nurse for 40-50 almost every night at work.

This photo provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows CDCs laboratory test kit for the new coronavirus. (CDC via AP) APAP

A CORONAVIRUS TRAGEDY

The reality within nursing homes for some families despite what some officials say has been concerted efforts to handle the pandemic proactively has been bleak.

For one woman, whose 89-year-old mother was a long-term resident of Carmel Richmond, the coronavirus situation in the facility accelerated rapidly.

Early in March, the woman said she noticed visiting protocols being changed at the nursing home. A week later, visitors were not allowed in the nursing home.

The following week, she was told patients had tested positive for the coronavirus but that her mother was not symptomatic. Then I was called and told that she had a fever, but she didnt have the virus, she said.

Just days later, she was told her mother had the coronavirus and was dehydrated. That was on Sunday, and then Monday night they called me and told me she died," she said.

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Grizzly bear just relocated from Vancouver Island shot dead – Nanaimo News Bulletin

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The grizzly bear Mali, relocated a couple of weeks ago after it showed up on Hanson Island, was shot dead last week by a resident in an act of self defence.

B.C. Conservation Officer Service confirmed that the incident took place on the evening of April 20. Investigation into the circumstance concluded the shooting was in self defence and no charges were laid .

Mali was identified by the ear tags that were placed on him during the relocation operation when he was moved to a remote area on B.C.s mainland.

In a statement, the Conservation Officers Services said that the bear was killed more than 30 kilometres away from the isolated area where it was released.

The grizzly bear made headlines earlier in April due to the historical nature of joint efforts in its relocation operation. Several groups including conservation officers, First Nations and the Grizzly Bear Foundation came together to relocate Mali.

READ MORE: Young grizzly bear saved by the joint efforts of First Nations and conservation officers on Hanson Island

Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said that although the bear was successfully relocated, there was no means to trace its movements and it must have wandered off again into a residential area in search of food or a new habitat.

Unfortunately Mali wasnt collared when he was relocated since everything happened very rapidly back then, said Scapillati.

The bears death highlights deeper issues such as climate change, lack of salmon and habitat loss among other issues which may be causing bears to wander into residential areas.

Mali had previoulsly swum to Hanson Island in search of food.

Grizzly bears are moving across the Island and we need to put some science behind this issue and find out why they are moving, said Scapillati.

He also said, that on spotting a bear in a residential area, most people panic and resort to guns which often results in the death of the bear.

Conservation officials throughout the region have been advising on the use of bear spray as the most effective tool and a safer option for both citizens and bears.

Scapillati stressed on increasing awareness through educative campaigns about bear sprays and attractants so that humans and bears can live in peaceful coexistence in the future.

Malis situation could have been very different, he added.

However, the joint conservation efforts that took place in relocating Mali earlier was a positive development in conservation efforts, setting precedent for more such rescue and relocation operations.

Sad things can happen in conservation sometimes, but you learn a lot and know that more grizzly bears need to be protected.

The conservation officers will give Malis body to the First Nations who will hold a small burial ceremony for the bear.

READ ALSO: Vancouver Islands bear patrol is watching your garbage

ConservationEnvironment

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Grizzly bear just relocated from Vancouver Island shot dead - Nanaimo News Bulletin

Michael Jordan hits ‘The Shot’ over Ehlo: What ‘The Last Dance’ does and doesn’t say about the iconic moment – CBS Sports

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In the third episode of "The Last Dance," Michael Jordan colorfully explains what was going through his head after "The Shot," as he jumped and screamed and punched the air while Craig Ehlo crumpled to the floor.

"Get the f--- out of here," Jordan says. "Go f---in' anywhere, but you're out of here. Whoever's not with us, all you f---ers go to hell."

All these years later, it is a thrill to see Jordan take himself back there. On May 7, 1989, he wasn't a champion yet, and each of his fist pumps in Cleveland were fueled by contempt for anyone who didn't believe he'd become one. This was only his second playoff series victory, but both he and Doug Collins, then the coach of the Chicago Bulls, say it propelled the team toward greatness.

"We started to get over the hump of loser's mentality," Jordan says. "We were starting to become a winning franchise. And the sky was the limit."

The ESPN/Netflix documentary, which uses the 1997-98 season as a jumping-off point to tell the larger story of Jordan and the Bulls, spends more than five minutes setting up and covering the three seconds that shook Richfield Coliseum and haunted Ohio for decades. Here's what it does and doesn't tell you about one of the most iconic moments in sports history:

The Cleveland Cavaliers were heavy favorites in the series. The Bulls had won 47 games to Cleveland's 55 and the Cavs had won all six of their regular-season meetings.

"In our mind, we got nothing to lose," Jordan says in "The Last Dance."

More context: The last of those matchups was on the last day of the regular season. The Cavs won 90-84 at Chicago Stadium, without the injured Mark Price, Larry Nance and Brad Daugherty.

"We couldn't even beat their subs," Jordan said, via the Chicago Sun-Times, adding that the Bulls will "certainly get swept" if they don't play better in the postseason. The headline of the story read, "Bulls resemble cadavers in sorry loss to Cavaliers."

Chicago entered the playoffs having lost eight of its last 10 games, but stole Game 1 on the road on the strength of 31 points and 11 assists from Jordan. The Bulls had the opportunity to advance in Game 4, but, as mentioned in the documentary, Jordan missed a clutch free throw in the fourth quarter and they lost in overtime.

The doc does not mention that Jordan called that missed free throw "my second worst hurt in basketball," behind not making his varsity team as a sophomore in high school, via the Sun-Times. Nor does it mention that, per the Chicago Tribune, Jesse Jackson "stuck his head into the shower" after the loss and offered words of encouragement to Jordan: Forget about it and concentrate on the next game.

"I had never been cheered up by a presidential candidate before," Jordan said in the game story that ran in the Tribune the morning after "The Shot."

Before Game 5, Jordan approached beatwriters Lacy Banks of the Sun-Times, Kent McDill of the Chicago Herald and Sam Smith of the Tribune, who had picked the Cavs to win the series in 3, 4 and 5 game respectively.

"We took care of you," Jordan told Banks. "We took care of you," he told McDill. Then he looked at Smith. "We take care of you today."

Smith had shared this anecdote previously, but it works perfectly in "The Last Dance" because it sets up Jordan's post-game interview on the court, in which he brings up the people who wrote him off and says he feels vindicated.

It would have also been worth telling viewers that Jordan had publicly predicted Chicago would win the series in four games, adding another layer to his anguish after the missed free throw.

"I was a little bit off in my prediction -- but we won," Jordan said in the Sun-Times' game story from Richfield.

Two-thirds of the way through the 1988-89 season, the Bulls tried something unconventional: They moved the greatest shooting guard in NBA history to point guard. "The Last Dance" doesn't get into it, but fortunately The Ringer's Dan Devine went deep on this just last month. As Devine explains, the rationale wasn't all that different from what we've heard from coaches say about LeBron James, Luka Doncic and James Harden in recent years: Give the brilliant, impossible-to-guard playmaker the ball more often, and your offense should be better.

At first, the switch invigorated the team. Jordan had 18 points and 15 assists in an easy win in his first game at the point, and the Bulls won 11 of their first 14 games with Jordan running the show. His seven-game triple-double streak remains legendary.

After Chicago's late-season nosedive, though, the Sun-Times' Terry Boers wrote a column titled, "Jordan at point seems pointless." (In the column, Boers also argued that Horace Grant should be playing small forward rather than power forward, but that's neither here nor there.)

Jordan averaged 39.8 points, 8.2 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 steals in the Cavs series. He had a usage rate of 40.5 percent and a true shooting percentage of 59.8 percent, per Basketball-Reference. But when Chicago lost to the Detroit Pistons in the conference finals, largely because the Bad Boys were content to let anyone but Jordan beat them, it was the end of the experiment.

Later, the triangle offense would provide the ideal framework for Jordan to dominate while keeping teammates involved. If Point Jordan had the benefit of modern spacing, though, just imagine the kind of damage he could have done.

My favorite part of Episode 3 features then-Cavs guard Ron Harper talking about the timeout before the final play. In the huddle, Harper announced that he'd cover Jordan. Cleveland coach Lenny Wilkens, however, decided to put Ehlo on him.

"And I'm like, 'Yeah, OK, whatever. F--- this bulls---,'" Harper says.

You know what happens next. But "The Last Dance" also shows you what preceded it: Jordan had already hit a clutch jumper, a pull-up over Larry Nance that gave the Bulls a one-point lead with six seconds left. The Cavs had then taken the lead with a layup from Ehlo off a simple but flawlessly executed give-and-go.

This is where Ehlo probably hoped he'd get some shine. That layup gave him 15 points in the fourth quarter and 24 in the game. It was the best playoff performance of his career, even if all anybody would remember was the play that followed.

Instead, the focus in the documentary is on Wilkens' decision to go with Ehlo over Harper. Jordan calls it a mistake, as Harper was "the guy that played me better."

Jordan might be right, but it didn't particularly matter when these teams met in the playoffs the previous season. Harper missed Game 1 of that series, in which Jordan scored 50 against Ehlo. "Michael would never get 50 on me," Harper said, via the Tribune, and then Jordan dropped 55 on him in Game 2.

(Shortly after that, the New York Times ran a feature by Ira Berkow attempting to explain Jordan's aerial exploits. Phil Jackson, then an assistant coach, offered this theory: "Simple. Michael Jordan is from another planet." Ehlo, Wilkens and the head of the Department of Astronautics at the Air Force Academy are also quoted.)

The most unusual decision Wilkens made in the huddle was not going with Ehlo over Harper, but leaving inbounder Brad Sellers uncovered. Wilkens wanted Nance to double-team Jordan because everybody assumed the ball was going to him. These are Ehlo's words, from "The Cleveland Cavaliers: A History of the Wine & Gold" by Vince McKee:

To tell you the truth, we did something that we never did before. Coach Wilkens was one of those coaches that kept someone on the vision of the ball, for some reason he chose to pull Nance off that assignment and called for a double team on Jordan. I think if I had been playing one-on-one with him, I would have played him harder. But because I had the help, I may have slacked off a little bit. When Jordan juked Larry on the first move, I ran over to catch him, and by the time I got there Jordan was already coming back the other way, so I went flying across him like E.T. across the moon and went right by him.

"In retrospect," Ehlo wrote in a 2018 essay on the website Amico Hoops, "you say, "Maybe we should have had a quicker guy along with myself guarding him." The two players he named were Harper and Price.

Ultimately, though, all of this second-guessing is about a possession that was defended well. Ehlo might have flown by Jordan, but his contest would have been good enough against anyone who couldn't stop on dime, rise up for a jumper, hang in the air until the defender is descending and make the most pressure-packed shot of his career.

The more interesting huddle was the other one. From "Michael Jordan: The Life" by Roland Lazenby:

During the time-out, Collins quickly drew up a play for center Dave Corzine to take the last shot, with the logic that it wouldn't be expected. Jordan reacted by angrily whacking the clipboard and telling his coach, "Just give me the f---in' ball!" Collins quickly drew up a new look, with Brad Sellers inbounding. As he walked on the floor, Jordan whispered to teammate Craig Hodges that he was going to make the shot.

Ehlo had words for Jordan, too: "Mr. Jordan, I can't let you score." Five years ago, Ehlo told the New York Times' Harvey Araton that he perhaps should have just called him Michael.

Jordan's celebration was unforgettable as "The Shot" itself, and he might've jumped even higher for it. That night, though, he said it was "uncharacteristic of me," via the Tribune. "But they had been on me all day. Yelling 'choke' and telling me to get a tee time."

He also immediately called it "my most memorable shot ever." For almost any other player, this would be a no-brainer, but seven years earlier he had made the game-winning shot in the NCAA national championship game.

Given how then-Bulls executive Jerry Krause is portrayed in "The Last Dance," it's a bit of a surprise that his reaction wasn't featured. Krause's first thought was not even about "The Shot" but the pass that led to it.

"That was the best pass I ever saw in basketball," he said in 2011, per Lazenby. "He got that pass between three guys, really threaded the needle. I ran down on the floor and hugged Brad Sellers."

Krause had drafted Sellers in 1986 despite Jordan urging the team to select Johnny Dawkins, one of many sources of tension between the two.

Also relevant, per a Sports Illustrated feature by Jack McCallum: A year before "The Shot," when a rookie Scottie Pippen helped Jordan's Bulls win their first playoff series with a big game in the first start of his professional career, Krause was in the locker room, yelling, "One-man team, huh? No way! No way this is a one-man team!"

The Cavs series was when the Bulls started wearing black shoes in the playoffs. Back then, nobody was doing that. A couple of months before the postseason, Sellers came up with the idea when Pippen entered the locker room with black shoes.

"So I said let's all try to get some black shoes for the playoffs," Sellers told the Sun-Times. "And everybody thought it was a good idea. We had to have five pairs dyed Wednesday night so we'd all be able to wear black."

According to then-Bulls center Will Perdue, the dye presented some problems.

"The game was over, you'd go to take your shoes off and your socks would be all black, and then you'd get black all over your uniforms," Perdue said on NBC Sports Chicago's Bulls Talk podcast in 2018.

No one would dare say that Jordan's jumper would have missed if he were wearing different shoes, but maybe the shoes had something to do with him being in that position. At least that's what Ehlo thinks.

"It gave them this special mojo," Ehlo said, via McKee. "It's not that Michael needed the extra help, but it seemed to make his teammates play better."

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Michael Jordan hits 'The Shot' over Ehlo: What 'The Last Dance' does and doesn't say about the iconic moment - CBS Sports

The Mythos of Michael Jordan Continues – The Atlantic

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All this footage of Jordan at his apex is his shield against time, a bulletproof defense of his legacy. The Last Dance isnt the first attempt hes made to defend his place in the public imagination, nor is it the first time his return to the spotlight has intersected with global tragedy. The day before 9/11, a 38-year-old Jordan, who stewed for years in annoyance at the attention that younger stars such as Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter were receiving during his second retirement, played a pickup game in Chicago. To the three reporters who were in attendance, Jordan hinted at another comeback. News of the tease wouldnt be printed until the day of the attacks, when American life instantly changed. He made the official announcement two weeks later, but, playing for the nations capital in all his faded glory, Jordans return hardly struck the right tone. Amid such widespread, collective trauma, the power of celebrity didnt have much pull, especially given his deteriorated physical prowess.

This time around, hes returned as a much-needed distraction, not an enfeebled one. And hes back not as a player, but as a parableone that is unconcerned with how Jordan, the person, has aged. Hes been buffeted by time in the 21st century, becoming a disembodied face of meme culture and witnessing the dominance of a basketball phenom in James, who has come perilously close to matching Jordans on-court accomplishments. Its likely no coincidence that Jordan signed off on using the footage in a documentary, after years of holding off, on the same day that James celebrated his third title at the Cleveland Cavaliers championship parade in 2016.

I imagine Jordan at peace. The Last Dance offers his commentary on his own legacy in a way hes never shared beforethe final word on his self-contained empire. I imagine it is thrilling for him to see, once again, the most astounding aspect of his game: his levitation, and, by extension, his mastery of time. The series third and fourth installments, which aired last night, dove into that particular gift of Jordans through the lens of the Bulls rivalry with the Detroit Pistons, undoubtedly the most intense of his career. We are reintroduced to the Jordan Rules, a brutalizing defensive scheme that the Pistons deployed to keep Jordan grounded. The teams center John Salley explains in the documentary succinctly: You have to stop him before he takes flight, cause you know hes not human.

Of course, it didnt work for long. You can measure the passage of time in Jordans career by the distinct ways he toyed with defenders. In his younger days, he suspended himself in the air several beats longer than anyone else in the league, waiting for the oppositions guard to drop before releasing the shot. In his latter days, he floated away from them, perfecting his signature turnaround jumper by influencing his defenders decisions using directional fakes, before drifting aside to create an unguardable pocket of space in which to shoot. The older he got, the more patience he had. So, perhaps in the Jordan oeuvre, The Last Dance is what follows the fadeaway. Its Jordan on offense, just like the good old days.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

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Michael Jordan, the real story of his baseball career – MLB.com

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The catcher called for a slider. Kevin Rychel shook him off.

Rychel still asks himself, all these years later, why he did this. He rarely shook off the catcher back then, in the midst of a seven-year Minor League career in the Pirates organization. But on this muggy July night in Birmingham, Ala., in a Double-A ballgame that would remain memorable only for this moment, Rychels mind was in a haze, his shoulder was already ailing with what would turn out to be a torn labrum and his faith in his fastball was, only in retrospect, overly ambitious.

(Note: A version of this story originally ran on MLB.com in 2014.)

And so he left it over the middle for the lanky outfielder with the Mendoza-level batting average, and the bat connected with the weight of its 33 ounces and the anticipation of the thousands of eyes upon it. The ball sailed over the left-field fence, the crowd erupted and Rychel hung his head.

What did you just do? he asked himself.

Back in the visiting clubhouse, now pulled from the game, Rychel faced the same question from the manager of his Carolina Mudcats squad. Bob Meacham had been ejected from the game, and so the roar of the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium audience was his only clue to what had just transpired. Rychel wasnt prone to giving up the long ball. In fact, he allowed them at an entirely reasonable rate of 0.5 per nine innings in the course of his career. So Meacham never would have suspected that Rychel would be the one on the wrong end of this meaningful moment, that his image would be the one plastered on SportsCenter, that his hotel phone would be the one ringing off the hook the next day.

It happened? Meacham asked.

Yeah, Rychel replied, it happened.

Michael Jordan had hit his first home run.

* * * * *

In 1994, Air Jordan did his time on the ground, in a stint with the White Sox as a light-hitting rookie in Double-A ball.

Jordans decision to leave the NBA at the utmost peak of his powers in order to pursue a short-lived career in professional baseball is still a source of curiosity. All the more as ESPNs The Last Dance docuseries about Jordans Bulls captures attention in a rare time without live sports.

The story goes that Jordan -- overpowered by the weight of his fame, burned out by his own brilliance on the basketball court and emotionally drained by the murder of his adored father -- pursued baseball as a new challenge and a welcomed distraction. And those in baseball who worked with and played with Jordan walked away impressed and convinced by the earnestness of this endeavor.

He respected the game, says Indians manager Terry Francona, who managed Jordan with the Birmingham Barons. I love the guy. And I dont love the guy just in the press. I love the guy. I respect him. I appreciate how he handled everything.

Francona is not alone in his opinion that Jordan could have made it to the Majors. Probably not as a star, mind you, but at least as a reserve, given the will and work ethic he put into refining his God-given talents.

The then-31-year-old Jordan invested his heart and soul into a sport that fundamentally flexes different fast-twitch muscles, a sport he had abandoned as a teenager, a sport his dad would wistfully muse about in those contemplative conversations between father and son. Sports Illustrated famously begged Michael to bag it in the headline that would cost them future quotes from the iconic figure, but Jordans quest in this and every athletic pursuit was to conquer the conquerable, attain the unobtainable.

SI completely missed the story, says David Falk, Jordans agent. Michael Jordan gave up everything he had earned as the king of basketball to play Minor League baseball and subject himself to criticism. He put everything on the line to compete, with nothing to gain. That is the essence of sports. To this day, SI has never apologized to Michael, and he'll never talk to them.

Such is the competitive instinct of His Airness.

If you told him no, Francona says, he was going to find a way to make it a yes.

* * * * *

Jordan hit .202 in Birmingham, and that number means different things to different people.

To some, .202 was confirmation that Jordan was in over his head, that he wasted a year of his basketball prime in order to humiliate himself in the dregs of the Minors.

To Francona, .202 is a source of pride, because he knows how hard meeting round ball with round bat inherently is and how much Jordan improved as the long summer wore on.

To Walt Hriniak, the former White Sox hitting guru who worked intensely with Jordan that spring, .202 was actually a source of disappointment.

I didnt expect him to tear it up, Hriniak says, but I expected him to do better.

Hriniaks seemingly unusual opinion doesnt sound so unusual at all when you dig deeper into the work that went into getting Jordan ready for his Double-A debut.

Once Jordan had publicly announced his retirement to a stunned NBA community and privately announced to Bulls and Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf his intentions to switch sports, one of the first people to learn of the experiment was Herm Schneider, the longtime athletic trainer for the Sox. Reinsdorf called Schneider with word of a special project just before Thanksgiving in 93, and soon Schneider was instructing Jordan on rotation workouts to tighten up his core and palm training to toughen up his hands.

Hes a great athlete in basketball, Schneider says. When it came to baseball, he was a little bit like a duck out of water. He loved baseball, but he didnt necessarily have that body awareness that you need. So we had to teach him.

Here is the greatest basketball player of all time, and hes looking at me to say, Teach me.

Another tutor brought in for that winter work was Mike Huff, one of the outfielders against whom Jordan would actually be competing for a roster spot in camp.

As a Chicago-area resident with superb defensive skills, Huff was directly requested by Reinsdorf to assist in the effort with M.J. in the bowels of Comiskey Park and at the Illinois Institute of Technologys massive gym. This was an inherently awkward arrangement, given that the Sox had yanked Huff back and forth between the bigs and the Minors the previous season and he had his own position to compete for (he would, in fact, be traded to Toronto at the end of the upcoming spring). But Huff came to the conclusion that the Sox werent going to take anything other than the best 25 guys when camp broke.

Besides, this was Michael freaking Jordan. Who could say no?

For me, having grown up in Chicago and watched him win those first three championships, the whole thing was surreal, Huff says. Because here is the greatest basketball player of all time, and hes looking at me to say, Teach me.

Huff taught him how to properly hold a baseball, how to throw, how to slide, how to train his feet to be ready for the footwork of the position. Jordan was an eager and tireless learner, so much so that Huff would, at times, forget what level of celebrity he was dealing with.

There was one Friday morning when Jordan showed up with Richard Dent, the great defensive end for the Chicago Bears, and said the two would be flying to Phoenix that afternoon for a weekend of golf with Charles Barkley. As the day wore on, Huff kept looking at the clock and kept worriedly asking if Jordan was going to have enough time to catch his flight at OHare. Jordan finally had to set him straight.

Mike, Jordan said, I have my own plane. Itll leave when I get there.

Oh, right, Huff thought to himself, this guys got lots and lots of money.

So much money, so much fame and so little experience in baseball that there would have been ample reason for guys like Huff -- grinders just trying to attain some level of big league stability -- to be resentful of this undertaking. When Jordans decision became public in early February of 94 and he reported to Spring Training camp in the middle of the month, he didnt just have to prove himself to the prying eyes of the public but also to the men hed be suiting up alongside.

If everybody was like M.J. the game would be better.

Hriniak arrived to that camp, found it packed with reporters and curious fans and worried what kind of dog and pony show the Sox had just gotten themselves into. So he waited for Jordan to finish his first round in the cage, went to the outfield where Jordan was shagging fly balls and looked the new acquisition in the eyes.

I just want to know one thing, Hriniak asked him. Are you serious about this?

Dead serious, Jordan replied.

All right, Hriniak said. If you want some help, Ive got time in the cage for extra hitting practice at 7 a.m. If youre one second late, you dont hit.

Jordan never missed a day, and he was never late.

If everybody was like M.J., says Hriniak, the game would be better.

* * * * *

Jordans devotion extended to his interactions with teammates, with fans, with the media.

When Sox manager Gene Lamont caught wind of the teams plans to only make Jordan available to reporters every third day that spring, he asked Jordan to reconsider.

I think [Jordan was concerned] he was taking away from the other guys if he [talked] more than that, Lamont says. But I didnt think Frank [Thomas] or Robin [Ventura] or the other players needed to talk about Michael the days he wasnt talking. He was receptive to that.

He was also receptive to the ample requests for autographs, both from his teammates and those in the stands.

It was incredible, says David Schaffer, the Soxs former director of park operations. Hed be at the game all day, it would be 80-90 degrees, the sun is out, the humidity is about 300 percent, and he would stand there and just sign and sign and sign. Everybody else had already showered and gone home, but hed be standing there every day. And it wasnt just because the press was there, because theyd already be gone, too.

Jordan would tell his teammates to leave anything they wanted autographed in Schneiders office and hed take care of it at the end of each day. When guys would inquire about shoes or gear, Jordan would reach out to his Nike contacts, and a package would be delivered within a day or two.

A guy from Venezuela asked him to sign a basketball for him, Schaffer remembers. He said to Michael, If you autograph a baseball for me, its worth $100. If you autograph this basketball and I take it back home, I can feed my family for a month.

Naturally, Jordan signed it, just as he would sign for those fans who would swarm his red Corvette when it stopped at a red light in the streets of Sarasota that spring or in Birmingham that summer.

The Barons drew over 467,000 fans at home and played to packed houses at every stop on the road that season, establishing attendance records that wont soon be broken. So baseball did not provide the basketball burnout with much opportunity to be inaccessible.

But the long bus rides that came with life in the Southern League gave Jordan a needed chance to tune out the outside world, and he welcomed them, just as his teammates welcomed the plush new rig he provided in exchange for an endorsement with a local bus company.

Jordan also didnt complain about the accommodations at the various La Quinta Inns where the Barons bunked.

I dont know about now, Francona says with a smile, but they didnt have suites at the time.

* * * * *

Decades later, any analysis of Jordans time in baseball is admittedly incomplete. We know he hit .202, struck out 114 times and committed 11 errors that summer in Birmingham. We also know he stole 30 bases and drove in 51 runs. He followed up the Birmingham season with an encouraging effort in the Arizona Fall League, batting .252 against some of the games elite prospects.

What mars the story, though, is the abruptness of the ending. Jordan reported to Spring Training camp in 1995 but vowed not to cross the picket line should the ongoing war between the owners and players union not be resolved by the time exhibitions began. Where some players in Jordans circumstances might have seen opportunity in the strike, Jordan was a past NBA player representative who appreciated the integrity of the union. So as replacement players were summoned, Jordan slid out of Sarasota in early March. He was back in the Bulls lineup roughly two weeks later.

Well never know if Jordans baseball career would have continued much longer had the strike not intervened. Francona, for one, got the sense, by the end of that summer with the Barons, that Jordan was getting the itch to return to his first love, to be a superstar again.

But baseball -- and its inherent demands for patience and perseverance -- seemed to teach Jordan something elemental.

Bulls coach Phil Jackson would remark, years later, that the Jordan who returned in 95 was different than the one who departed in 93. This Jordan was more generous with his time, more encouraging to his teammates. And Jordan himself would admit that watching guys who were, in some cases, 10 years younger passionately pursue their baseball dreams in that unpretentious setting of Double-A stirred something in his soul.

[I realized] I had kind of lost that in the realm of what was happening to me in basketball, he once said. I was on the pedestal for so long that I forgot about the steps to get to that. Thats what Minor League baseball did to me.

And the stint certainly left impressions on those around him.

Huff looks back fondly at those winter workouts as a perfect precursor to the work hes done as the longtime vice president of operations for the Bulls/Sox Academy, a youth development facility. Franconas experience with a superstar at that early stage of his managerial career was a perfect precursor to what hed encounter when he took over a Red Sox club loaded with outsized personalities a decade later. Lamont admits that, for all the distractions the Jordan situation could have caused for his defending division champs that spring, he simply got a kick out of it. Schaffer considers Jordan one of the classiest people he dealt with in more than 30 years with the Sox.

And then theres Rychel. He long ago gave up his big league dreams and went into a career in the food industry, where he is currently the vice president of operations for a fast-casual Mexican chain. To this day, he still wishes he had thrown that slider to Michael Jordan.

In the weeks leading up to July 30, 1994, word had gotten around the Southern League that Jordan was showing improvement, hitting the ball harder, capitalizing on more mistakes. And that night, Rychel made a costly one. He can laugh now about the night he got posterized by Air Jordan, and, looking back, his pitch selection isnt his only regret.

Through it all, Rychel says with a laugh, I never even got an autograph.

But like so many others in baseball who crossed Michael Jordans path in 1994, he got one heck of a memory.

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Michael Jordan, the real story of his baseball career - MLB.com

Kerr believes fight with MJ made them better teammates – NBCSports.com

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During the third episode of "The Last Dance" documentary on the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, Warriors coach Steve Kerr had some great quotes.

Here is how he described Dennis Rodman:

"Everybody understood Dennis' impact on the group. And we understood that he had different needs in his personal life than we did.

Dennis was bizarre. But I think what made it work was Phil (Jackson) and Michael (Jordan's)understanding that to get the most out of him on the court, you had to give him some rope.

"And they gave him a lot of rope."

The main example of "rope"was how in mid-January 1998 -- shortly after Scottie Pippen made his season debut (against the Warriors)-- Rodman had a request.

Let's let Michael Jordan's description of the events take over from here:

"While Scottie was out, Dennis was a model citizen to apoint where it was driving him fu--in'insane (laughter).So when Scottie came back, Dennis wanted to take a vacation. I come to practice, Phil calls me in and says, 'Look, Dennis wants to tell you something.'

When Dennis wants to tell me something, I knew it's not something that I'll fu--in'want to hear. So Dennis says, 'I need a vacation.' And I look at Phil, say, 'Phil what do you mean, a vacation?' He says, 'He needs a vacation.He needs some time off to let loose.' I said, 'Look Phil, let me tell you something man. If anybody need a fu--in'vacation, I need a vacation.' We look at Dennis, said, 'Dennis, what are you gonna do?' He says, 'Well, I need to go to Vegas.'

Phil, if you let this dudego to vacation, we're not gonna see him. You let him go to Vegas, we're definitely not gonna see him. So he looks at Dennis and says, 'Dennis, well, can your vacation belike 48 hours?' And Dennis is like, 'I got no other choice. I'll take whatever you can give me. I'll take the 48 hours.' '48 hours. You got 48 hours, Dennis' And I'm looking at Phil like, 'You ain't gonna get that dude back in 48 hours. I don't care what you say. He's done. Okay, 48 hours.' He leaves that room, goes straight to the airport. Boom. We don't hear or see Dennis for 48 hours."

Rodman then comes on camera, says"I went to the f------g Vegas," and starts laughing hard.

It was hilarious.

[RUNNIN' PLAYS PODCAST:Listen to the latest episode]

In case you're curious -- the Bulls won both games that Rodman missed.

So after 48 hours, he simply returned to Chicago and arrived at practice with no issues? Well, not exactly.

[RELATED:Klay jokes that Kerr 'big timed' him when seeking autograph]

As Jordan and Rodman's ex-wife, Carmen Electra, explained:

Jordan: "He didn't come back on time. We had to go get his a--out of bed. And I'm not gonna say what's in his bed or where he was or blah blah blah."

Electra: "There's a knock on the door, it's Michael Jordan. And I hid (laughter).I didn't want him to see me like that. So I'm just like hiding behind the couch with covers over me. 'Come on, we got to get to practice.'"

What a story.

Follow @DrewShiller onTwitterandInstagram

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How Jordan’s intensity led to Bulls trading Hopson to Kings – NBCSports.com

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Editor's note: This is the fourth installment of NBC Sports California's "20 questions facing Kings" series that will look into pressing matters for the team once the NBA returns.

The NBA has a handful of what I like to call self-made men. Players that went late in the draft or not at all, but defied the odds to carve out a niche in the league.

It takes a certain personality to endure disappointment and failures. Many of these players are hardened by trips to the G League or stints playing professionally in Europe or Asia. When they finally get a chance in the NBA, they find ways to stick with more than just talent and ability.

Kent Bazemore of the Kings is one of these rare players who survives the trials and tribulations to earn a living in the league. Hes actually done a lot more than just make a living.

Undrafted out of Old Dominion, the 6-foot-4 wing scrapped his way onto the Golden State Warriors' roster during the 2012-13 season. In July of 2016, he had performed well enough that the Atlanta Hawks signed him to a four-year, $70 million deal.

Sacramento acquired the veteran, along with Anthony Tolliver, in a February trade for Trevor Ariza, Caleb Swanigan and Wenyen Gabriel. Bazemore proved to be a missing link for the Kings as they rattled off a 13-8 record in the 21 games since the swap.

With the season on hiatus, its a good chance to look at how Bazemore fits with the Kings and whether hell return for more once basketball resumes.

Bazemore is at the tail end of one of the richest deals in NBA history for an undrafted player. Hes making $19.3 million this season and when the offseason eventually begins, hell become an unrestricted free agent.

At 30 years old, Bazemore has plenty of basketball left in the tank. Hes proven to be a defensive disruptor and he has the ability to get hot on the offensive end as well.

He wont make $19.3 million a season on his next contract, but there is a good chance he gets another 2-3 year deal with a starting salary of $8-10 million per season.

This was the type of player the Kings hoped they were getting when they signed Ariza last summer. Ariza had a personal issue that kept him away from the Kings for stints early in the season and he never really found his voice with the team when he was available.

Bazemore walked in the door, called a team meeting and began taking ownership of his role as a veteran leader behind the scenes.

This doesnt work everywhere, especially for a mid-season acquisition, but Bazemore was the right personality at the right time for a Kings team that had lost a bit of its confidence.

Bazemore will have options, but he flourished with Sacramento and seemed to fit in with the personality of the team. When asked about the potential to stick around past the season, Bazemore made his position clear.

I know this is a good place for me because when I first got here, a couple of games in, Im like, man, if I would have started the season here... Bazemore told NBC Sports California late in the year. When stuff like that creeps into your mind, you feel like its a good place. The vibe has been great, I love coming to work and I enjoy the people here. For sure man, it checks all the boxes.

On the court, Bazemore was a breath of fresh air for Sacramento. His energy and defense made a tremendous difference. He also found his shooting stroke in Sacramento, knocking down 38.6 percent from long range in the Kings run and gun offense.

Eight seasons into his career, Bazemore knows who and what he is as a player. He understands his role and his Kings teammates embraced him both on and off the court as well.

[PURPLE TALK PODCAST:Listen to the latest episode]

Money might come into play, especially with the Kings current roster makeup and their focus on retaining Bogdan Bogdanovic, while extending DeAaron Fox this summer.

Bazemore wont get another $70 million in salary, but he will still cost. Can the Kings afford another mid-level exemption level contract? Will the market drive his rate up? These are issues that will take time to work out.

Sacramento also has a stack of players that can play Bazemores position, although they cant really fit his role. Bogdanovic can play both the two and the three and Buddy Hield needs major minutes as well.

The Kings also have a young player in Justin James that may eventually develop into a similar type of player as Bazemore. He has the length and athleticism, although he will need more time to reach his potential. James might make a good understudy to Bazemore for a season or two.

Lastly, at 30 years old, Bazemore has made a lot of money and his style of play can fit in with just about any group. Is there a sure-fire playoff team that could come calling with promises of championship runs, albeit at a discounted rate?

[RELATED:Kent Bazemore quickly became fan favorite in short audition with Kings]

Bazemore loves to golf and he loves the California sunshine. While Sacramento may not have been on his radar before, he instantly fit in with the team and felt appreciated.

There will be other opportunities, but for at least the next two or three seasons, Bazemore and the Kings seem like a really good fit. The Kings could probably work a three-year, $21-27 million contract into their budget and this is the type of player and personality they need.

Its early and there is an incredible amount of uncertainty moving forward with the league, but signs point to Bazemore sticking around past the 2019-20 campaign.

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How Jordan's intensity led to Bulls trading Hopson to Kings - NBCSports.com

How Michael Jordan became great: ‘Nobody will ever work as hard as I work’ – CNBC

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In 1982, Michael Jordan was just a teenager he wasn't even yet the best player on his University of North Carolinabasketball team. He still had to write home to his mother asking for stamps and spending money.

Yet Jordan made it known to those around him that he had lofty ambitions, and that he would complement his desire to be great by working hard and always learning how to get better, according to the first installments of ESPN's 10-part documentary "The Last Dance."

While the focus of the documentary series is on the Bulls' 1997-1998 season, in which Jordan and his teammates captured their sixth NBA championship, the first episode also examines Jordan's earliest days as a public figure, starting with his freshman college season.

When he arrived at UNC, the expectations around Jordan were not befitting a player who would go on to reach the Hall of Fame and one day boast an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion. In fact, legendary UNC head coach Dean Smith said in one interview included in the documentary that Jordan was "inconsistent as a freshman," but the teenager's work ethic still stood out.

"He was one of the most competitive [players] we've ever had in our drills," Smith said. "He wanted to get better and then he had the ability to get better."

As a freshman, Jordan told UNC assistant coach Roy Williams (who is now UNC's head basketball coach) that he wanted to be the best basketball player ever to play at UNC a school that had already won one NCAA championship, and nearly two dozen conference championships, before Jordan's arrival. Williams says in the documentary that he told the young Jordan that he would have to work even harder than he had in high school in order to accomplish that goal. (Jordan famously did not make his high school's varsity basketball team until his junior year, after he finally hit a growth spurt.)

Jordan responded by telling Williams he'd worked as hard as anyone else on his high school team, Williams says.

"I told him, 'Excuse me. I thought you just told me you wanted to be the best player to ever play here,'" Williams says he told the teenaged Jordan, who responded with an intense promise.

"'I'm going to show you. Nobody will ever work as hard as I work,'" Williams says Jordan told him.

From there, Williams tells ESPN he spent the next "three years watching that youngster get better and better and better."

Williams was amazed at Jordan's ability to maintain an intense work ethic and strong desire to learn and become a better player throughout his career.

"He never freaking turned it off," Williams says.

Indeed, Jordan's UNC teammates can confirm that the freshman player worked intensely to get better and better on the court, including continuing to practice after the rest of his teammates were ready to head home, according to former UNC teammate James Worthy.

"After about 2.5 hours of hard practice, I'm walking off the floor, like, drenched [in] sweat, tired. And, here comes Michael pushing me back on the floor, wanting to play a little one-on-one, wanting to see where his game was," says Worthy of Jordan.

It's no coincidence that Jordan would challenge Worthy, specifically, to extra work on the court. A junior when Jordan was a freshman, Worthy was UNC's best player in 1982 and would help lead the team to a national championship on his way to becoming the first overall pick of the 1982 NBA Draft.

"He wanted to learn, he wanted to grow quickly," Worthy says in the documentary of Jordan's rabid desire to improve his basketball skills as a freshman. "From month to month, from game to game, he was soaking up information. Once he got something and added it to the raw talent that he already had, it was really exposive to see."

Another former UNC teammate, Matt Doherty, echoed that sentiment in a recent interview. All of the UNC players respected Jordan, Doherty said, because while he was extremely talented, he was also "a sponge, he listened, he learned and he competed."

And Jordan definitely got better as his freshman season went on. Worthy, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career himself, jokes in the documentary that he started their season at UNC together as the better player, but that didn't last long.

"I was better than he was ... for about two weeks," Worthy says of Jordan.

By the end of his freshman season, Jordan "was a great player," Worthy says.

In fact, by the end of the season, Jordan had learned enough and improved his basketball skills to the point where he was comfortable stepping into the national spotlight. When UNC made it to the NCAA's 1982 national championship game against powerhouse Georgetown, Jordan calmly sank the game-winning shot with time expiring on the game clock.

"I was young, but I had no time to be nervous," Jordan tells ESPN of the now iconic shot that put the precocious teenager on the road to becoming a household name.

Even with his success in the championship game, Jordan continued working to get better. Jordan managed to "improve considerably between his freshman and sophomore year," former UNC coach Dean Smith said in one interview that's included in the ESPN documentary.

Jordan would play three seasons at UNC before the Bulls selected him with the third overall pick of the 1984 NBA Draft. Once he entered the NBA, Jordan once again found himself needing to work harder than ever to improve his skills and prove himself to his teammates.

"From the first day of practice, my mentality was: 'Whoever is the team leader of the team, I'm going to be going after him. And I'm not going to do it with my voice.' Because I had no voice. I had no status. I had to do it with the way that I played," Jordan tells ESPN about his rookie year in Chicago.

Today, Jordan's intense work ethic is legendary, as reporters and former teammates often recount how the iconic athlete often competed just as hard in practice as he did in actual games. One famous quote from Jordan seems to sum up that ethos: "I don't do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results."

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How Michael Jordan became great: 'Nobody will ever work as hard as I work' - CNBC

Michael Jordans savage reason why Kobe Bryant is the only player hed lose to 1-on-1 – ClutchPoints

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Michael Jordan in his prime was simply something else. Not many, if anyone, could probably match up with him in a game of 1-on-1.

According to Jordan himself, however, he thinks that Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant might have just been able to edge him out for one very particular reason.

If I was in my prime, who would I want to play one-on-one? That list is very long, Jordan once said, via SportsCenter. Id start off with Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant in his prime, LeBron in his prime, D-Wade in his prime, Melo. Thats a good start. I dont think Id lose, other than to Kobe Bryant because he steals all my moves.

Thats Michael Jordan at his best. He teases us with a bit of humility by saying that he might lose to Kobe, but almost instantly reverts back to his smack-talking ways by accusing Bryant of copying his own moves.

Unfortunately, we wont get a chance to hear Kobes reaction to this after perishing in a fatal helicopter crash early in the year, but knowing him, Bryant would have probably snapped back with his own witty remark against Jordan.

Deep down, though, we all know how much respect these two had for each other, so were pretty certain that Bryant would have seen this as somewhat of a compliment. After all, Jordan is implying that Kobes skill set is pretty much on level ground with his, and this coming from one of the greatest of all time, it cant be all that bad for Bryant.

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Michael Jordans savage reason why Kobe Bryant is the only player hed lose to 1-on-1 - ClutchPoints

Michael Jordan discussed his late father, dropped hints of ‘The Last Dance’ in 2017 interview – USA TODAY

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SportsPulse: Former Chicago Bulls teammate B.J. Armstrong breaks down the first two episodes of "The Last Dance" and explains why Michael Jordan's criticism of his teammates was only the "PG" version. USA TODAY

More than two years before the first episodes of ESPN's "The Last Dance" documentary ever aired, Michael Jordan revealed some clues about the secretive project that was still in the works.

In a 2017 interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, Jordan confirmed a camera crew had followed the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls around the entire season "to capture the last dance."

He also seemed to know it might not portray him in the best light at all times. "What you will see in that footage is my dedication to the game of basketball. Unwavering dedication, day in and day out," he told Cigar Aficionado editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken.

"And being the leader of the team, I hold everyone else accountable for the success. They're going to get an honest understanding for what winning is about. What leadership is about... I have no problems with people seeing it, as long as they understand the passion, because it's a strong passion and it's very raw."

Michael Jordan, who told Cigar Aficionado magazine in 2017 he smokes "six cigars a day," enjoys one on the golf course while serving as a captain's assistant for Team USA at the 2009 Presidents Cup in San Francisco.(Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP)

There are a few other Jordan quotes from the interview that become more interesting with the passage of time.

One example is when Jordan discussed his return to the NBA after taking a year off to play minor league baseball. "That helped me put things in perspective," he said.

"When I went back to [basketball] I appreciated it even more. So when we won those championships [in 1996, 1997 and 1998] those things mattered to me far more than what I did in 91, 92 and 93. People dont see that. All they think about is he batted .202, and he struck out a certain number of times. Yeah, OK. But the effort was there and the learning curve and the passion was there.

"Thats what my father and my mother instilled in me. Take a negative and turn it into a positive. Dont be afraid to fail."

Jordan said one reason he was such a big baseball fan was because of his late father, James.

"He loved Roberto Clemente. I grew up emulating his footsteps. Who he admired is who I watched. I also grew up a NASCAR fan, a Richard Petty fan. I was more into stock-car racing than I was into anything else," Jordan said, adding, "The thing I remember the most about my father and I had him for 32 years I never look at it from a negative sense. Obviously he was murdered and rarely I do I get the chance to talk about him. I think about him practically every day."

As for being called the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan -- perhaps the NBA's ultimate competitor -- downplayed the competition.

"Thats one thing my parents taught me very well. Dont rub success in peoples faces," he said. "Its all related to who is watching now. If you ask 20 years from now, Im pretty sure LeBron [James] may beat me. If you ask me, I can never give you an opinion about things like that."

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The resistance to compare athletes of different eras also extends to another of Jordan's passions, golf.

"First of all youre never going to say who is the greatest of all time. To me, thats more for PR and selling stories and getting hype," Jordan explained.

"Jack (Nicklaus) and Tiger (Woods) never played against each other, they never played in the same tournament, they never played with the same equipment, they never played the same length of golf course.

"I never played against Wilt Chamberlain, I never played against Jerry West. To now say that ones greater than the other is being a little bit unfair. ...Obviously Jack won more during the time he played. Tiger evolved the game to where it crossed a lot of different boundaries, where it was no longer just a white guys sport. And that grew the game from a financial standpoint. Now does that constitute him being the greatest? Does that mean hes any less than Jack? I think its unfair."

In asking Jordan about Nicklaus vs. Woods,Shanken seemed to assume Tiger was finished winning major titles, not knowing he would stage a Jordan-like comeback to capture the 2019 Masters.

"Yes, Jack has 18 majors and Tiger has 14," Jordan responded at the time -- before Woods captured his 15th.

"I won six championships. Bill Russell won 11. Does that make Bill Russell better than me or make me better than him? No, because we played in different eras. So when youre trying to equate who is the greatest of all time, its an unfair parallel, its an unfair choice."

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After Meadows and Jordan moves, what’s next for Oversight Republicans? – Roll Call

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The GOP plan was for North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows to become the ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee when Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan was named to lead House Judiciary Republicans, but things change.

Meadows left Congress to become White House chief of staff, and who will lead Oversights minority is now in question.

Of the 16 Republicans still on the committee, only six have served in the House for at least three terms, and several are already ranking members on other committees. Its left some wondering who will succeed Jordan; several have expressed interest in the job, and Jordan says the talent is already there, although it is unclear who will move into the slot.

Theres some great people whove done great work on the committee, so whoever they pick will be ideal, Jordan said, referring to the Republican Steering Committee, which is responsible for choosing the conferences committee leadership and rosters.

Jordan said he saw several members engaged in the committee business and who did their homework before hearings and worked well with the staff. He pointed out several members: freshman Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Mark Green of Tennessee and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, as well as Kentuckys James Comer, who is in his second full term, and Georgias Jody Hice, who is currently serving his third.

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When Michael Jordan collided with Bloomington, Bob Knight and the Olympic Trials in 1984 – IndyStar

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Coach Steve Alford talks about a bet Michael Jordan made him and never paid. Reno Gazette Journal

It was 1984 when Michael Jordan fell in love with Bloomington and felt sorry for Steve Alford all at the same time. The same spring he felt the wrath of Bob Knight andthe earth-shaking rattle of Charles Barkley's dunks.

Jordan, a junior at North Carolina, was dropped in the middle of the picturesque college campus of Indiana University 36years ago. He was one of 72 Olympic hopefuls to descend on IU, invading Indiana Memorial Union, grabbing a scoop of ice cream at the Chocolate Moose, hitting McDonald's, inciting a buzz across campus.

Inside a tiny arcade in the student union, the likes of Karl Malone, Sam Perkinsand Kenny Fieldswould play. Jordan was rumored to have been at a Little 500 party at McNutt Hall. There were movies to go to in their spare time and putt-putt golf to play.

Mostly, though, it was basketball.

The 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials were heldApril 17-22, led by the venerable Knight, who would have to whittle the dozens of players down to 12 plustwo alternates.

Jordan came into the tryouts6-6, 197 pounds, a standout who had just been named College Player of the Year, ledthe ACC in scoring and had drained a memorable jump shot that won the national championship in 1982.

But Jordan and his North Carolina teamhad just lost to IU in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAAtournament the month before. It was Dan Dakich's famed defensive game, holding Jordan to 13points. He couldn't be that special.

Many people on campus didn't knowJordan by sight.Outside of basketball circles, he wasn't a household name.

Michael Jordan (left) spent some time in Bloomington in 1984 for the U.S. Olympic Trials.(Photo: Associated Press)

Still, Jordan stood out among other players with his magnetism and charisma, said Jon Wertheim, who was 13 andliving in Bloomington when the trials came to town.Jordan walked around in Bermuda shorts and collared shirts and he joked with Wertheim, whom Jordanspotted carrying a tennis racket one day.

Hey, John McEnroe, Jordan yelled to Wertheim, motioning tennis strokes. When are we gonna play?

For Wertheim, his world was made.

"Jordan starts out as this normal, goofy kid, skinny, nice personality, confidentbut hes not untouchable,"said Wertheim, now the executive editor for Sports Illustrated. "Thisguy who's walking around campus, who's going back to North Carolina for his senior year. Then he goes pro, drafted No. 3, Knight loves him, he's the star of the Olympics. Byfall, he has his own shoe from Nike and he's not the goofy kid anymore."

"The general is assembling his troops for what he believes will be his greatest battle," the lead sports story in the IndyStar onApril 20, 1984, read. Knight went on to talk in an unusually gushing way about what it meant to be coaching for his country.

"There isnt anything I will ever do, anything I anticipate I will ever do, that I would like to do as well as this," he said at the time."Ill try to do it as well as I can and hope its sufficient. I cant think of a greater honor."

Knight had a big job to do, sitting and watching these guys play basketball, then, in the end, letting most of them go.

Jordan was one of the better ones, according to other players, but not necessarily the one who stood out.

"Nothing can prepare you for Patrick Ewing for breakfast, Charles Barkley for lunch and Lorenzo Charles for dinner," Ed Pinckney told the IndyStar in Bloomington that April.

"Three or four times a day I hear backboards rattling," Olympic hopefulTim McCormick said. "And each time I turn around, I see Barkley walking away."

Yet Knight seemed to have picked his ownfavoritein the eager-to-please Jordan, the perfectly kempt and feathered-haired Alford aside.

Wertheim, who was friends with Knight's son Pat,would play junior tennis at the courts and then take his lunch to Assembly Hall to watch practices.

"Eventhen I can remember (Jordan)being the teachers pet," said Wertheim, who is writing the book Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and 90 Days that Changed Sports." "Everyone wanted to impress (Knight), but..."

Jordan did. Knight raved about Jordan to reporters.

"I think he's the best athlete I've ever seen play basketball, bar none. If I were going to pick people with the best ability I'd ever seen play the game, he'd be one. If I wanted to pick the best competitors I'd ever seen play, he'd be one of them," Knight said. "So, in the categories of competitiveness and ability, skill and athletic ability, he's the best athlete. ... That, to me, makes him the best basketball player I've ever seen play."

Later, Jordan would tell people how tough Knight was as a coach.

July 24, 1984: Olympic basketball coach Bob Knight (back) jokes with team members (from left) Steve Alford, Jeff Turner and Jon Koncak.(Photo: AP)

"Nobody (but Jordan) probably appreciated on that Olympic team other than myself because I knew it, I grew up with it how tough coach is," Alford told the IndyStar in October."But in that toughness, he shows how much he cares and loves and how much it makes youbetter. And thats not easy, especially when youre Michael Jordan."

During their time on the Olympic team, Jordan betAlford $100 he wouldn't last his entire college career playing for Knight and said he felt sorry that Alford had such a tough coach.

"It was kind of a tongue-in-cheek type of thing MJ was doing because he saw how demanding just the summer was," Alford said. "I dont think it was so much making that bet because coach was coach, it was more he was betting on I wasnt tough enough to handle it. It was a dig at me."

Alford proved Jordan wrong, though Alford never saw that $100.

Wertheim has a suspicion that Jordan's talk about the toughness of Knight was just that all talk.

"People have said how Jordan thought he was so hard," Wertheim said."But he found someone that was as driven as he was and I think they both really liked each other."

Those auditioning for Knightstayed in rooms at the student union and ate in the cafeteria. When they needed to get to practices, maroon vans crammed with lanky players could be spotted lumbering about campus.

Rod Humphrey was finishing up hisjunior year that spring at IU and remembers the buzz, the talk, the rumors that swirled about what these future NBA playerswere doing on campus.

"There were stories all over the place," he said. Humphrey saw plenty of it firsthand.

Eachday, the team would line up in the student union waiting for meals. It was a narrow hallway with not much room to maneuver so some of the guys would step outside to soak in the sun, waiting for the line to dwindle.

Most of the players were nice enough to stop and talk to the fans and students who approached them for an autograph or handshake.

One day, in between classes, Humphreytook a break to play Tapper at the arcade inside theunion.The next thing he knew, Karl Malone and Kenny Fields were next to him playing Ms. Pac-Man.

Michael Jordan was the leading scorer in the 1984 Olympics.(Photo: Lennox McLendon, AP)

Humphreybolted to the bookstore, bought a pad of paper and a pen, and ran back. Both gave him an autograph with no complaints.

"They were pretty cool about it," said Humphrey, now a CPA who lives in Indianapolis. "To those that followed college basketball to see the likes of Jordan and Ewing and Barkley and Perkins and Malone, these were the guys that ended up taking over the NBA. The fact that they were so approachable?For the most part they were just hanging out."

Or as Wertheim puts it: "They were as bored as all of us, hanging aroundin a college town," he said.

Knight eventually selectedhis12 players and two alternates. His team won thegold medal that summer. It was the lastamateur level U.S. team to win an Olympic goldinmen's basketball.

The team went 80, averaging 95.4 points per gameand holding opponents to 63.3. Four players averaged double figures in scoring.

But one led them all. His name was Michael Jordan (17.1)and he was about to get a shoe deal.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

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When MJ took the NBA from Magic: ‘This is not the 80s no more’ – NBCSports.com

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In the first two episodes of The Last Dance its easy to perceive former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause as an antagonist in the story.

The Bulls are on the verge of being broken up despite winning titles and dominating the NBA. Krause is integral in that playing out the way it did, which led many to describe him as the villain of the story.

The flip side to that is that while Krause inherited Michael Jordan when he took over, he assembled all of the pieces around him.

Jason Hehir, the director of The Last Dance, was on Jalen and Jacoby after Episodes 3 and 4 aired. He dished about a lot of extra info that didnt make it into the final cut, including why he thinks Krause is not a villain.

Weve been really lucky with reaction to the project so far, but the fact that either people feel that Jerry is the villain, because I dont think that he is, Hehir said. I think that he was the architect of this and like him or not, hes polarizing, but he was the architect of these teams. Every single piece that was put in place besides Michael was put there by Jerry Krause. Anyone that felt that we were deliberately vilifying him is absolutely wrong. Its just really tough because we tried to use as much archival from him as we had and Jerry passed away four months before we started shooting. He was first on my list, literally, to interview because he was so vital to this entire storyline, but hes not there anymore.

RELATED: Jerry Krause's writings will speak for him as 'The Last Dance' marches on

Krause is a main character in the first two episodes, especially the drama with Scottie Pippen demanding a trade. However, in Episodes 3 and 4 Krause plays a much smaller role. Some of the archival footage Hehir referenced is used and theres also a shot of Krause dancing in the plane after the Bulls won the 1991 NBA title, but he isnt a focal point.

Hehir teased that that will change over the final six episodes.

I do feel like he doesnt get enough credit, Hehir said of Krause. As the series goes on I am confident that he gets his due by the time we end Episode 10 that people will recognize what a great GM he was. But yeah, thats something that does hurt me when people say that because that was our intention. We were just giving the facts as they were at the time.

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Nike Was Never the First Choice of Michael Jordan for Sneaker Deal But Others Refused to Give an Offer – Essentially Sports

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The beast of NBA, Michael Jordan is earning in bizarre numbers to date. Currently, he is the richest former professional athlete in the world, with a net worth of $2.1 billion. But do most know where it all began? Michael Jordans first sneaker deal with Nike was a boon, not only to the legend but the brand as well. Reportedly, Nike had offered $500,000 in cash to the Bulls star for five years, before his rookie season in 1984. However, Jordans billionaire tale is not that short!

Jordan had just been drafted by Chicago Bulls that year and everybody seemed intrigued to watch him perform in the NBA. While we know the extent to which NBA players earn out of sneaker brands, MJ wanted to sign with his favorite Adidas brand. Even though he wore Converse in North Carolina because of his coachs deal to put the brand on his players, but Jordan wished to wear Adidas.

Meanwhile, Nike, a rising competitive brand of that time had recorded its first quarterly loss at the beginning of 1984. They wanted Jordan to endorse their brand and offered him a massive deal of $500,000 in cash for five years. Jordan didnt look quite interested in the deal and went on to explore his options. Adidas refused to make an offer with him as they were going through a shift in the leadership of their business. On the other hand, Converse wished to sign MJ but they already had star-studded players signed namely Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Even they failed to provide Jordan with a deal.

With none of the options open, Michael Jordan went back to Nike and they added a clause in his contract. It was quite an interesting factor to the beginning of MJs earning days. The clause stated three conditions and if he didnt accomplish them, the deal will be withdrawn two years early. Firstly, didnt win the Rookie of the Year Award, didnt make it to an All-Star game or averaged 20 PPG, and lastly, didnt sell over $4 million worth shoes in his third year.

Jordan had said at that time that he is loyal and so he went back to Adidas to show the contract in the hope if they could offer anything close. But it wasnt possible. He ended up signing the big contract with Nike.

Well, Nike didnt know how simple it was for Jordan to fulfill those clauses in the contract. He ended up recording 28.2 PPG in his rookie season and earned the Rookie of the Year. Nike sold a shooting $70 million worth shoes in MJs first two months. The same year, Nike created a signature shoe for Jordan and this led to the establishment of Jordans present brand, Air Jordan that is produced by Nike.

The 2019 Forbes report highlights that out of $145 million endorsements earning by MJ, $130 million is just his sneaker income. Even after so many years, the likes of Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and many more stars have signed with Nike, Jordans contract stands the highest!

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Nike Was Never the First Choice of Michael Jordan for Sneaker Deal But Others Refused to Give an Offer - Essentially Sports

Out in South Jordan, the parks and rec department is going virtual to provide residents with their sports fix – Salt Lake Tribune

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Many South Jordan residents had already signed up for the citys annual Earth Day 10K race when the COVID-19 pandemic caused closures to recreation sites all over the state. That left parks and recreation officials looking for ways to provide their residents with something to do, even though facilities in the city were closing left and right.

Thats when program director Brad Vaske thought of something. What if he took the Earth Day race and made it virtual? Runners could send screenshots of their times and routes gathered through an app or their smart watches and run the race on their own time.

The 10K was originally scheduled for Saturday. But in its virtual form, it went from April 20-25.

The virtual race series is just one of the ways the South Jordan Parks & Recreation department has adjusted to life in the coronavirus era. It also launched a virtual soccer program in partnership with the Real Monarchs, and a virtual story walk for children who stroll along the Jordan River and read from their favorite books.

The main goal of this whole thing is to provide something for the community to get out and enjoy on their own and be with their family or somebody like that, and still maintain social distancing but stay connected with the city as a whole, Vaske said.

Vaske said when he brought up the idea of running the race virtually to runners already registered for the original, they were not only on board, but also excited they still got the opportunity to run. Hes even come across people signing up for the virtual races who hadnt ever done the regular races due to schedule conflicts.

And Janell Payne, the citys associate director of recreation who doesnt consider herself a runner, is going to participate in some virtual races as well. She wont be submitting her times for public consumption.

I dont want to advertise that, Payne said. But I might share a picture of me passed out at the end of course or something like that instead.

Participants in the races, soccer or walks have the opportunity to take photos of themselves and send them to city for a chance to win prizes. For the races specifically, that might be the only competitive aspect of running them.

Im not really awarding best time or anything like that, Vaske said.

The current circumstances have forced the parks and recreation department to come up with creative solutions that still keep their residents involved with the community at large, but also keep them as safe as possible. Thats got the department thinking its possible some of their virtual programs have legs beyond the pandemic.

One of the programs that seem likely to stay on the citys catalog after the pandemic ends is the virtual race series, officials said, because it allows runners casual or serious to participate when their schedule allows.

I think its been nice, in a way, to be thinking outside the box and trying these things because some of them well probably add and keep doing while we do our normal programming, too, said Emily Stephens, recreation program supervisor.

Theres no telling how long South Jordan will provide its virtual slate of recreation options. Like other parts of the state, its making decisions based on directions from public health officials, mayors and the governor.

But certain events in the near future like Summerfest, which features events like Battle of the Bands, a parade, and a chalk art contest might be affected if the pandemic lasts that long. The department is already thinking about what to do with those events if that happens, but some could end up not happening.

Were working through those and trying to come up with creative solutions, Payne said. But theres some that I feel like, just do their nature and defined time and crowds, wont be realistic. But were still pushing through, trying to come up with creative solutions or adjustments or alternatives.

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Out in South Jordan, the parks and rec department is going virtual to provide residents with their sports fix - Salt Lake Tribune

Why Anthony Kim refused to gamble with Michael Jordan – Golf.com

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When it comes to the intersection of golf and gambling, theres no more legendary a figure than Michael Jordan. In just the first two episodes of The Last Dance, the ESPN documentary that premiered Sunday, we learned why Jordan bought Scottie Pippen a set of clubs and how a bad round of golf spurred Jordans 63-point playoff performance.

But that was just scratching the surface. So my co-host Sean Zak and Itook the opportunity to focus this weeks Drop Zone podcast on MJs golf career arc. From his introduction to the game (via Davis Love III) to six-figure on-course gambling losses (six figures according to Jordan seven, according to others) to his omnipresence at Ryder Cups to his frequent money games against the best players in the world, we took a deep dive.

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In that trip down the rabbit hole, it was especially fun finding quotes from players who have spent plenty of time with Jordan on the course.

Rickie Fowler described the stakes of a match with Jordan to Jason Sobel of the Action Network: Hell play you for whatever you want. Whatever makes you scared.

At age 16, Justin Thomas joined Jordans group for an unforgettable stretch of holes. He told them, Alright, Ive got the little man. Well take whoever wants us. Thomas remembers. Theres eight people. He wouldnt tell me the game; he said I didnt need to hear that.

Keegan Bradley told ESPNs Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo that Jordan was a great guy to play against. I call him my human ATM, Bradley said. If I need some cash, I just call up MJ.

Still, Bradley added, the matches are filled with intrigue and smack talk. He really is a good player, but the fun part of playing with him is hes always in your ear, he said. Hell go places that are tough. After the round youll kinda be thinking, Man, that was some tough stuff that he said to me. But hes just such a good guy, its amazing when you meet your idols and they exceed what you expect out of them, and MJ is one of them.

But one of my favorite nuggets we unearthed was from a Q&A that Brian Wacker did with Anthony Kim for pgatour.com in 2009. Any old Kim stories are a delight to revisit, but AKand MJ? Thats gold.

In the interview, which you should read in its entirety here, Wacker asks about Kims junior basketball career and how its been meeting some of the games greats, from Blake Griffin at Oklahoma to figures like Charles Barkley and Jordan, now that hed become a high-profile golfer. Jordan had been at the Presidents Cup, which Kim described as a win for the team. But the two had met before that, too, and Kim had tried to soak up some lessons from the experience.

I learned a lot from him in terms of trying to stay patient, even though I beat the hell out of him on the course. Its hard for me to be patient at 24 sometimes, but Im learning. Or at least Im trying to.

The next excerpt is even better:

PGATOUR.COM: Have you played a lot of golf with Jordan, or any other NBA players?

AK: Have you heard that expression about taking candy from a baby? Yeah, [Jordan and I] played, but I could never take any money from that man. I had a couple of opportunities to play with some of the guys from the Lakers, but I just havent been in L.A. that much lately. But whoever wants to get a beating, Ill be happy to play. I love talking trash all day long.

His answer harkens back to Bradleys description of Jordan as his human ATM, suggesting that Jordan was an easy mark for golfs elite players. Even at 24 years old, its telling that Kim refused to take money from Jordan on the course.

But thats just the tip of the iceberg! For more, have a listen to the Drop Zone podcast below, or at any of these links:

Find the Drop Zone wherever you listen to podcasts:iTunes|Spotify|Soundcloud|Stitcher

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Dennis Rodman considered Scottie Pippen the ‘best player in the world’ during Michael Jordan’s baseball hiatus – CBS Sports

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The first two episodes of "The Last Dance" -- ESPN's 10-part series chronicling Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls -- were a monster hit, reportedly drawing over six million viewers. So far the focus has been on former Bulls GM Jerry Krause, who has been painted as the clear villain of the story, Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen and, of course, Jordan.

This Sunday, Dennis Rodman will reportedly be featured in Episode 3. Rodman was not a part of Chicago's first three titles, but he was an integral part of the second three-peat after Jordan's baseball hiatus from 1993-95.

That two-year period temporarily opened the NBA for new rulers. Patrick Ewing's Knicks finally made it to the Finals. The Houston Rockets won two championships. And in the opinion of Rodman, who appeared on ESPN's First Take on Monday, Pippen capably stepped into Jordan's shoes as the "best player in the world."

"If you notice about Scottie Pippen, when Michael Jordan left in '93, '94, '95 Scottie Pippen was the best player in the world," Rodman said. "If people didn't know that, he led the team in every category. Every category. Scottie got his wings in 1991 when [the Bulls] beat the Detroit Pistons. When Michael left, Scottie took over and next thing you know he was the best player in the world. People don't know that."

This is particularly interesting because Pippen's falling out with Krause was the focal point of Episode 2. Pippen has always been under-appreciated simply for existing in Jordan's shadow, and people who don't remember were shocked to find out he was the sixth-highest-paid player on the Bulls in 1997 after delivering five titles as Jordan's wingman. Pippen felt disrespected that Krause and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf wouldn't renegotiate his seven-year, $18 million contract, which he signed long before he or the Bulls had turned into all-time greats.

Krause reportedly tried to trade Pippen for incoming rookie Tracy McGrady on draft night in 1997, but McGrady says Jordan axed the deal. You can understand why Pippen felt so under-appreciated, and to this day he's seen by a lot of people as a great Robin who was never capable of being Batman. Rodman says otherwise.

It's obviously a strong claim to say Pippen was, effectively, the second-best player in the world to Jordan by the end of Chicago's first three-peat, but it's not without merit. In his first season without Jordan, Pippen was first-team All-NBA and All-Defense while finishing third in MVP voting. Hakeem Olajuwon won the award, and his Rockets also won the 1994 championship while Pippen's Bulls lost in the second round to the Knicks.

The following season, Chicago lost in the second round again, this time to the Orlando Magic. Again, that doesn't mean Rodman's claim is off base just because Pippen couldn't lead the Bulls to a championship. Jordan couldn't do that either until Pippen came along. In the end, it's probably a bit of a stretch to say Pippen was the best player in the world, but not by much. The moral of the story is Pippen was, and still is, highly under-appreciated for the all-time player he was, and Rodman is simply calling attention to that.

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Dennis Rodman considered Scottie Pippen the 'best player in the world' during Michael Jordan's baseball hiatus - CBS Sports